I have entered the dark-art of making my own reeds!
The problem is…
…before the reed will sound, I hear a wheezing of air through the chanter (sounds like somebody with asthma). It’s like its not getting enough air to sound before I give it that EXTRA squeeze with the left arm. Then it sounds, but with a fair bit of constant tricep contraction.
It’s like comparing cutting through butter or a well-aged parmesian cheese with an Opinal knife! You know what I mean?
SO… have I been too aggressive with my sanding or not agressive enough? Or should I be more aggressive in the bag squeeze.
When I test the reed for crow, it takes a good suck to get the daemonic little device singing. The lips look very fragile now, so I am hesitant to sand it further.
Ignore the wheezing. Does it require too much pressure before the reed sounds? Can you get a second octave from it ?
Did you check the cane thickness when sanding the slips before you tied things up?
Check the elevation (opening of the reed lips) before trying to scrape more. You may want to adjust the bridal. If you decide to scrape more… only do half what you think it might need. Wait a day or so for the reed to re-adjust tension and try things again.
I think that you may have made the reed too short , and you are in a quandry , If you sand it more now , it will speak , chirp . If you scrape it down at the base , It will just open up too much at the lips , and you will have a fog horn reed . I like to make my reeds so that they are a bit on the extra long side , so that there is room to scrape and sand them , and move the bridle around , some where in there is an optimal setting for the reed , and chanter .
I am guessing , here but a common mistake is to tie the reed on too short , and too tightly , giving no " wiggle room " for adjustments .
As a quick fix , try scraping the bottom of the U shape , or the base of the reed , give it time , as the more you scrape , or sand a reed the more it will open at the lips , thus removing the shrillness of it .
It is nice to have the reed cane vibrating in a balance where the cane really has a voice , and you can hear the reedeness to the pipes . When a reed is made this way , it also plays very easy in the chanter . Again , I tend to go for a softer cane , as I can leave more cane on the reed , and still get a vibriant , easy to play reed that has some room for climate adjustments , ect ,
tok . p.s. you may have to check for other air loss sources , be thorough , check everything , then strap in and try the reed .
Sounds like the reed is still to hard. If the bridle is not holding the lips too open then scraping the bottom of the scrape should lighten up the pressure. This will also lower the pitch so the lips will have to be trimmed to raise the pitch. In no case should the scrape at the back of the reed be scraped thinner than any point above it. If the scrape is very thin you may be using cane which is hard. Softer cane will crow with the lips being thicker.
Greetings! This is my first post on this forum and I have been lurking here for about a year and I have found that the comments here are for the most part extremely useful for anyone interested in pipes. I’ve met a few of you at tionols and meetings.
While reading this discussion which mentioned the hardness and softness of cane, a question occurred to me which Ted might be able to answer with his experience:
Has anyone who harvests cane regularly noticed whether the wetness or dryness (rainfall) of the season preceding harvesting has any effect on the relative hardness or softness of the cane?
I would expect that wetter seasons would produce softer cane. With greater seasonal rainfall, there is faster seasonal growth and with wood, the faster the growth of a tree, the less dense the wood will be.
I should preface this by saying that last year it was very dry before December and January in California, in fact, the most dry on record for Southern California. During those two months, I harvested cane in four different places miles apart in California and most (but not all) has seemed rather hard using the the thumbnail test.
I have been trying to make reeds with some of this cane the past two or three months and I have problems trying to cover the two octaves. I experience what Carl does in that it takes quite a squeeze on my bag to get a reed to sound in my D chanter. When the lips are wider apart, they will go through the first octave, but not the second and the reeds seem rather “quacky.” If the lips are closer together, the reed will go into the second octave more easily, but it will then either become very difficult to sound the bottom D and more often than not, it will gurgle. The E can be even more difficult to sound than the bottom D. I have been playing around with a few variables such as bridle placement, sanding and scraping more or less, but now I am wondering whether my problems might be also (or more) related to the hardness or softness of the cane. Any comments or suggestions on this would be appreciated.
I purchased cane from NPU in Dublin and found it a bit hard. I then tried some from Celtic Fire and it seemed a bit softer. The problematic reed was made from ther NPU cane.
I am making a new one tonight (Reed #57) from the softer Celtic Fire cane. I’ll let you all know the results.
I should really try David Daye’s “reed dunking” test so that I may quantify the cane’s hardness. The thumbnail was all I have ever used to date.
It sounds like my problem is in the cane, so I’ll try, try again, and report back.
Carl, there are a few reed making Guru’s that frequent the board. Can you post some recipies of technique, slip thicknesses, diameter of sanding drum, size and shape of the reeds you are making so it will be easier to diagnose the problem?
Good idea! Here’s my recipe as stolen from Joe Kennedy (I modified it a bit) at a reedmaking workshop in Toronto…
I use a slip .5"x4.5" and gouge it with an NPU gouge (Ashley Iles) to 40/1000". I check it for parallel with a dial caliper. Sand on a can of Lemon Pledge. Cut in half and carve a bottle shaped head, chamfer edges of tails. Tie up and mount on tubular brass staple 1 7/8" long 3/16" OD. Staple is tapered from half length with an eye of 1.5mm. Soak tails in warm water for a few minutes, tie it up to a length of 3 1/4" with waxed dental floss (50% cobblers wax/50% beeswax). Scrape a rough shape with an Opinel knife and finish with sandpaper on plate glass.
At this stage, I can get a reasonable crow, right on pitch (G), but it requires a bit of a suck and is hard to play in the chanter.
I have never tried further scraping on the “U” part of the head, but maybe this is the problem, along with cane that is too hard.
If I have not described my method clearly enough, please ask me questions to fill in the details.
Thanks for the welcome. I’ll bet that a year is not the record for lurking.
I purchased a full set of used Britton D pipes late last year and wanted to start experiencing the intricacies of the instrument before I started sounding off. I’ve immersed myself a bit having read extensively about the pipes on the web, attended a couple of tionols and joined NPU and the Southern California U Pipers Club. I’ve found the piping community to be a very generous group of people with their knowledge and experience and I’m glad to be a part of it.
I feel that I am at the point where I can relate a lot more to what everyone on the forums is saying and experiencing and perhaps contribute some useful things myself.
1 year of lurking? He’s a light weight!!! I lurked for 2 years (I also doubt I hold the record). I also have learned a tremendous amount about UP’s from the members (sometimes really cranky members) on this board. For me, the board has been a priceless source of info in my obsession. I am still plodding away on my Roberts practice encouraged by those brief flashes when something that sounds like music emanates from my feeble attempts. Once more to the breeches boys!
p.s. you may have to check for other air loss sources , be thorough , check everything , then strap in and try the reed .
